Feb.4] SOCIETYOF BIBLICAL ARCHEOLOGY. [1890.
REMARKSONTHE TABLET OF THETHIRTY STARS.
PartII.
By Robert Brown, Jun., F.S.A.I.
Line2, Star No.II.
►S W + -SI I 4 W -*1
Kakkab Lik - bar - ra | 'Ilu A - nu
The-Star of -the- Hyaena. \ The-god Anu
TheAkkadianLikbarra("Striped-dog"),the Assyrian a\uiahu)
and Hebrew oax, is the Hyaena, the oytm beingthe "doleful
creatures"of the A.V. in Isaiah, xiii,21.* In W.A.I. II, 49, No. 3,
line38, the star Lik-bar-ra is explained as |J «-|<| ^, a-khu-u ; the
syllablera is the phonetic prolongation,usedin the emphatic. In
W.A.I.II, 49, No. 4, line 41, the Star Lik-bar-ra occursin a list of por
tentswiththe Stars of the Stag, Dog,Fish,etc. Thereis no "Star
of the Fish " amongst the Thirty, for Fomalhaut\seemsto have been
too far to the south to be included ; and Pisces is a dark constel
lation, and one whichcertain "sage astrologers dubbed a most
malignant sign."J Okda ("theKnot,"calledNodus,in Cicero's
Aratos),a Piseium, whichPtolemydescribesas 6 tVi rod awcianov
- The LXXrendersthe passage, xai tixTKt\9r)aovTiu a! oi'xfat fix»v. Delitisch
andotherstranslateo%tm'jackals,' butI prefer the view of the Rev. Win.
Houghton(Transactions,V, p. 328).
t Vide Proceedings,Jan.,p. 147.
X Smyth. He refers to John Gadbury. TheSchol.on Aratos, Phainemena,
240,saysof the Northern Fish,XoAoaioiKaXovaiv'IxOi'vxl^'^ov'a''- Piscesis
a dark constellationas connected in symbolism withthe nocturnal sun (vide
Proceedings,Jan.,p. 145) ; but was not a malignant signin Babylonia, for " If the
Starof the Fish (return)justiceis in the land" (W.A.I.II, 49, No. 4, line 46),
the month Addaru,the month of Pisces, beingunderthe protection of "theSeven
Great Gods"; andwhenMarswasoppositeto "the Starof the Fish, the
presenceof many fish in the land (is) reported" (W.A.I.HI, 57, No. 2, line 3).
AlthoughFomalhautis probably the star herespeciallyreferredto, yet the time
was the same, for, as Aratos observes,—
"Withthe Fishescomes
TheFishwhichlies beneath the dusky-Goat"(Phainomena,701-2).
180